Local website hunts down clothes worn by the rich and famous

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SEATTLE -- A Seattle-based website has developed technology to discover where users can purchase exact clothing pieces worn by celebrities and models in online magazines, fashion blogs and other social media sites

Seeing an outfit worn by the rich and famous without knowing who makes it or where to buy it can be frustrating. Solving that dilemma became the driving force behind ador.com, according to Chief Technology Officer Tom Lianza.

"It's all about looking at the image, getting inspired by the style and being able to buy right away by clicking on it," Chang said.

Chang performed a search after seeing a photograph of music mogul Beyoncé that had been posted to the star's personal website without any information about what the celebrity was wearing. Chang decided to search for Beyoncé's jacket.

"I'm going to search red, tartan, moto jacket," she said.

Using a combination of key words, colors and fabric types, Chang's computer combed through a database of 10 million items available for sale on the internet by a variety of major retailers.

"This is the exact match," she said.

After finding the identical piece of clothing, Chang was able to search for alternate options.

"We always tag items that are in different price ranges just because our users have different budgets," Chang said.

The behind-the-scenes work done by fashion taggers like Chang is just one part of what ador.com offers. The site also asks users to answer a series of questions about where they usually shop, the styles they prefer and a list of favorite celebrities that can be used to create a personal, one-of-a-kind online fashion magazine.

"What people want is pictures," Lianza said. "And so this is all pictures, wall to wall."

When readers spot an item of interest in one of the online pictures, they can use their mouse to hover over the item; click on the link that reveals what brand makes the item, see how much it costs and where they can buy it.